I was thinking about our players and why we are bottom, and I think I was of the opinion the team is better than it actually is. When I use my head, and not my heart, this is my honest opinion of the players so far this season: Cesar: Can't believe that some were saying he is the best in the premiership. He is a decent goalkeeper but he parries far to many shots, and his throw outs are not the best at times. One on one he is superb. I would still keep him in goal. Green: You have to accept he will make the odd mistake, he has always done that and always probably will. He can be a good keeper like the WBA away game in the cup. Tarore: Good going forward but in defence a liability at times. Bosingwa: Jumped up little s**t. Onuoha: Didn't like him at first this season but I do believe his family problems caused his head to be in the wrong place. Much, much. better recently, although wasn't great against Swansea yesterday. Hill And Derry: Superb Commitment but too old. Would they get into another premiership team I doubt it? Da Silva: Has played much better recently but can be poor at times too. Diakite: Can run pass players and then. Well there is no then, how many goals has he scored this season? Park: If he was a an electrical good we would be taking Manchester United to court because he is faulty. Sold a dud, past it, enough said. Taarabt: Love watching him play, except his corners and free kicks as his delivery has been bad most of the time. In the right team he would probably be a great premiership player, but in this team it just does not happen for me. Wright-Philips: Since his Chelsea goal he seems to have been given some slack. The fact is he is a league 1 player. Can't score and can't do much else. Granero: Really think he is one of these players who needs a season to get use to the premiership. If he goes to another premiership team next season he will probably do well. Mbia: Runs around a lot, and falls over a lot, and can't shoot. Johnson: Knew when we signed him he was too old and be injured quickly. Proved me right. Mackie: Headless chicken comes to mind. 110% QPR but not premiership quality. Hoilett: Really rated this guy was really excited about signing him. Great for Blackburn but he has looked anything like that for us. Still think he will come good. Zamora: Same as Johnson really except he can play half a game. Bothroyd: Not premiership class a championship or lower player. DJ: Did well for Blackpool,but also think he is not premiership class but a decent championship player. Can't really evaluate the new signings. If we can get all these fit and playing together: Cesar, Onuoha, Taarabt, Granero, Hoilett, Remy, Samba, I would feel a lot more positive. What are your thoughts, your head not your heart?
Someone used the word malaise on another thread and I really think that, that is what has spread throughout our team. I actually think we have decent players but I don't think they can get their game together mentally to turn it round. Midfield is a real problem, we aren't getting any control of the game with the likes of Mbia in there, who just flops about like a fish on dry land and Derry is an enforcer and nothing more. I think we need Granero and Jenas in there to get a bit of quality on the ball and some meaningful possesion.
Looking at the squad on paper, I think it's better than at least 3 of 4 other squads in the Prem. The prob is we are not playing as a team. Would love to see something or someone sparking us into life to produce the result that these players are capable of but I just think we are stuck in an awful habit of loosing. We just don't seem to be capable of digging ourselves out of this hole. I'd love someone to convince me than we can stay up with anything other than there are 12 games left. The stats don't lie. We have won 2 out of 26. We don't score enough to really threaten teams. We have still come along way in the last two years. We have to remember that. We have rich owners who have publicly stated that they are here for the long haul and have contingencies in place should we go down. I know we all fear the worst but we have to trust these guys. We also now have an experienced manager who will rebuild us if necessary and hopefully get us back to playing a half decent brand if football. If was never going to be an easy ride. Sometimes you have to take one step backwards to take two steps forward.
The reality is there are key areas of the team that have to be the right 'blend'. The centre-backs, the central midfield and a pair of strikers. They don't necessarily have to be two fantastic players, if the 'blend' is right two very good players can often perform better than two fantastic players who don't gel and read each others game right. Sometimes the partnerships grow to the point where they play way above their normal game, Hill and Nelsen were a great example of this, sadly they were our only example of this as none of our other names have produced a fraction of what they are capable of. I watched Southampton last night and Cork and Schneiderlin ran the show, how many of you had heard of that partnership being top drawer? That's an example of players fitting perfectly into the system...
